One in five graduates from some newer universities failed to find a job within six months last year compared with only one in 10 elsewhere.

Across the country almost 20,000 former students were still out of work six months after finishing their courses – a 50 per cent increase since before the recession. Thousands more who were forced to take low skilled work as cleaners, shelf stackers of bar staff.

More than 94 per cent of new graduates from Edinburgh and Newcastle universities had found a job or begun postgraduate study within six months, with a similar success rate at Cambridge, Reading, Bristol, Aberdeen and St Andrews universities.

But only 78 per cent of those who graduated from the University of East London were in work or further study with six months. The picture was similar at London South Bank University, Birmingham City University and London Metropolitan University among others where almost one in five were still unemployed.

The dramatic gulf was exposed in official figures which also show Oxford University falling behind Hull, Huddersfield, East Anglia and Bath Spa universities in employment rates.

According to the Higher Education Statistics Agency 90.2 per cent of Oxford graduates were either working or doing further study within six months of completing their degree last year.

The figure is below the national average of 90.4 per cent and shows a marked drop on Oxford’s own figure for the previous year of 92.6 per cent.

David Willetts, the Universities Minister, said the figures showed that some institutions were lagging behind and would have to “raise their game”.

“This is exactly the kind of information that we want you people to be able to look at as they consider which universities to apply for and what to study,” he said.

“Young people, for too long, have been taking these big decisions without the basic information about what their prospects might be.

“For the universities which are not scoring well in employability, that information is going to be out there and they are going to have to raise their game.”

Usman Ali, vice-president of the National Union of Students, said: "Some universities are clearly still doing better than others when it comes to preparing graduates for employment, but accessing higher education still transforms lives.

“It is good news that prospective students will now be given better information about the levels and types of employment that their graduates move into and universities must now respond by improving careers services and making clear the likely destinations of their students."

A spokeswoman for Oxford said that while the rise in unemployed Oxford students was largely down to a drop in the numbers choosing to go into postgraduate study, possibly as a result of the financial climate.

The numbers going directly into jobs has risen steadily for the past three years, she said. According to the university’s own internal research only 6.5 per cent of its graduates were unemployed after six months last year.

“The bottom line is the number of people going on to work is up, the number of employers who want Oxford graduates is up but the number in further study is down slightly,” she said.

Cambridge also saw a fall in the number of its graduates in work or further study – from 95.2 per cent to 93.6 per cent – but it nevertheless remained firmly in the top category.

Robert Ashton, an expert on entrepreneurship, called on the Government to fund a new form of “National Service” for unemployed graduates, offering internships working in the community allowing them to gain important experience rather than languishing on benefit.

“The costs of large numbers of graduates, heavily laden with debt, growing despondent and pessimistic would be far greater,” he said.